


Solitude

by lilllac



Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians - Rick Riordan, The Heroes of Olympus - Rick Riordan
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Zombie Apocalypse, F/M, Friends to Lovers, Friendship, Heavy Angst, Pining, Slow Burn
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-03-03
Updated: 2021-03-03
Packaged: 2021-03-15 16:20:47
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,980
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29811114
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lilllac/pseuds/lilllac
Summary: "Do you think we're going to survive?"Percy swallowed, feeling his throat dry. On impulse, he lifted a hand and picked up the one she still had resting on her forehead. Annabeth stiffened for a moment, surprised, but when he linked his languid fingers with her callused ones, she relaxed. With his thumb, he gently stroked the back of the girl's hand, feeling the scarred and battered cloth of the bandage under her skin."I would like to to believe so".Percy thought that her smile, at that very moment, was reason enough to try".When the end of the world knocks on their door, all they're left to do is to keep trying.
Relationships: Annabeth Chase & Nico di Angelo, Annabeth Chase/Percy Jackson, Percy Jackson & Grover Underwood, Rachel Elizabeth Dare & Percy Jackson
Kudos: 15





	1. to believe

**Author's Note:**

  * A translation of [Solitude](https://archiveofourown.org/external_works/769608) by Lilllac. 



> English isn't my first language, so I apologize for all mistakes to be found. This fic is kind of one my older ones, so I'll revise it as I translate the chapters. I hope it's enjoyable.

When Percy thought about zombie apocalypses, honestly, they didn't look _that_ bad. He thought of TV shows and movies, cartoons and comics. Of course, there _were_ the sad moments in those stories too - like that most recent death in the last season of The Walking Dead, or that cop in the penultimate arc of Highschool Of The Dead (although he wasn't so sure how many people had actually read the manga, actually), or even that one very memorable winter arc in his favorite video game, which practically ripped his heart out and called him a crybaby - but most of the time, the stories revolved around around incredible and impeccable action sequences, heavy artillery, the value for teamwork and long monologues about the human essence and what set them apart from those irrational monsters.

If he were to be even more optimistic, he could even think of an epic and - okay, questionably genuine - romance, as the one in Warm Bodies (yes, he had read the book. And no, he wouldn't recognize the movie as a worthy adaptation).

Percy liked fiction, okay?

Well, the real world had greeted him with two punches to the face. And there was certainly nothing fictional in watching helplessly as Will desperately tried to disinfect the two-inch-deep cut in Connor's arm with the last rags of gauze they had managed to get from the infirmary before the entire west wing of the school was taken .

Will was the very image of despair. His fingers were trembling, calloused and aching. Remains of dried blood and skin accumulating under the nails. There was a disgusting mix of saliva, soot, and sweat sticking to his face, from just a few minutes ago, when Piper's team had returned from the basement with a semi-conscious Thalia being brought over Luke's shoulder - the other shoulder clearly dislocated - and Piper basically had expelled what appeared to have been a two-month stockpile of ashes from on to the poor guy responsible first aid, in this case, Will.

Things were getting difficult, to say the least. And Will wasn’t exactly a good representation of hospital hygine.

Percy knelt beside him on the frayed, smelly floor. They were all packed into what had, two, maybe three days ago, been the school auditorium. It was on the third floor, so it was easier to keep the ... _heavens_ , the zombies away. They had made a barricade with tables, chairs, blackboards torn from walls and a suspicious amount of duct tape outside the doors, at the very beginning of the stairs.

Leo, who was responsible for that little piece of geniosity, had seemed very pleased with himself on the first day.

Leo had been awake for 72 hours. Seventy of which he had spent making patches on the barricade and praying to all the gods that it would not give in before ...

Well, before the rescue. Supposing there _was_ one. On the way, that is. They needed to have hope, right?

Lacy Tanaka, Piper's younger half-sister, approached him without Percy noticing. When he sawthe little girl sitting next to him, hugging her purple backpack, he almost had a heart attack. His eyes flew over her quickly, looking for any injuries, but he found nothing. As if reading his thoughts, Lacy said:

"I just wanted to know if you're okay...".

Percy let a tired smile escape. With one hand, he stroked the brown hair on top of her head, a lump forming in his throat. Lacy was just over twelve years old. She was supposed to be in the east wing, with the rest of elementary school kids, when that nightmare started. But, by a trick of fate, Silena, the eldest of the siblings, had gotten into a fight with Thalia once again, and the two had been summoned to the dean's office. Aphrodite had said that she would stop by to sign her daugther's suspension, and as it was already close to the end of the day, she had asked her other children to wait with Silena.

Mitchell, Drew, Silena, Piper and Lacy never got to see their mother that day. Or the next.

Percy bit the inside of his cheek until he tasted blood. If it weren't for that, Lacy would have ...

Lacy would have died with all the children in the eastern sector.

"Percy?" Jason approached.

"One minute" the shorter boy asked. He turned to Lacy and said: "This is the emergency section, okay? Stay there on the other side, along with Rachel".

 _Emergency section,_ Percy repeated to himself, incredulous. He couldn't even call that place an auditorium now, let alone try to find subdivisions that didn't exist . But it was not what the girl needs to hear. Lacy blinked in confusion, but obeyed, walking to the other side. Percy threw a knowing look at Rachel, leaning back, who was sewing several pieces of torn gauze into one bandage. She understood, and held out an arm for Lacy to hold when the little girl approached.

With an almost defeated sigh, Percy got to his feet again. Jason was leaning against a grimy column. He looked nothing like the prototype teen heartthrob he had been up to three days ago. Two blackened cuts occupied the length of his forearm, where he had been hit by a bare end of a copper wire, while running with Leo, Piper and Frank to the auditorium, on the first day. His purple T-shirt was just a memory of what it had once been, stained with blood and torn on his shoulders. The hair on the left side of his skull had been cut as much as possible, to make Will's job easier in sewing the huge cut he had gotten the day before. He still insisted on wearing his glasses, although one of the lenses was cracked at the end, and the frame was crooked. His face, sweaty and oily, seemed to be permanently contorted in a worried and anxious frown.

"What is it?".

"Annabeth and Reyna want to talk to us. I think it is important".

Percy cleared his dry throat. "Lately, what hasn't been?".

Jason didn't smile, but he allowed himself a sympathetic lift of his eyebrows.

They walked together, past teenagers and young adults huddled on the mattresses they had picked up from the P.E faculty floor on the second floor - the same journey in which Percy had managed to get a black eye - coughing and groaning in pain, sweaty and feverish bodies. The whole scene made Percy feel horrible. He wished he could somehow do more than he thought possible.

Reyna and Annabeth were standing in the only secluded and relatively private corner of the auditorium, where the food supply was kept and watched: the old sound room. On the first day, they had tried - and succeeded! - use the radio system to communicate with the police, who said they were on their way.

Percy did not like to think about what could have happened since then.

Percy had _known_ Reyna, to some extent, before this whole tragedy. She was his cousin's best frind, and sometimes she went with them to the bookstore where they met to play tabletop RPGs, although she always stayed in a more distant armchair, leafing through some philosophy book. She had always had, in his opinion, a stubborn and serious look, but the past three days had transformed her in an unparalleled way. The gray sweatshirt she always wore had been used the day before to clean up ... an _accident_ involving spoiled food and a teenager with a weak stomach. Reyna didn't seem to care - she had been more concerned with the consequences that an undigested piece of food left there to rot could cause the survivors' already shaky health.

Like everyone else, she was covered in scratches, bruises and scrapes all over the visible part of her body. Her arms crossed in front of her chest and her hard expression made her an even more intimidating picture than she already was before.

Unfortunately, after seeing a horde of undead face to face pulling pieces of meat from his classmates, Percy couldn't find many other things frightening.

He missed, even though not a week had passed, what life was like before.

Annabeth was the best example of this. They were not friends, but they had a pact of mutual implication that lasted since middle school, when they had met. It was a funny game for all of their friends: Percy was good at sarcastic comments, while Annabeth was able to verbally destroy any argument he could use. Three days ago, he would have been making some unnecessary remark about something silly, like a leftover pasta sauce on her face, and she would reply with some assertive opinion about the height of Percy's jeans - or, if she was feeling particularly evil , on the print of his underwear.

That day, Annabeth went straight to the point:

"We're running out of food". 

Percy closed his eyes for just a moment, to sigh, and when he opened them again, he saw a tired Annabeth staring back at him. She hadn't slept for nearly as long as Leo, and had deep dark circles that extended below her reddened eyes. She had been part of the "troop" that went to the basement to fetch coal - the winter in New York was harsh, and one of the youngest girls had suffered from hypothermia on the first day. With the building out of power, they had no option but to build a fire every night.

Percy had not been able to go with them: he had gone with Jason and Luke to the food deposit. What had been his most frightening and life-threatening experience. They had not been able to return with more than two bags. All fresh food had rotted away. Not to mention that ... the person responsible for the place had not been able to close it before ...

Anyway. The fact was that there were more than one or two undesirable beings among the cheeses and breads.

Percy was not surprised. There were about fifty people there. The priority was Lacy, and then the wounded, and finally the relatively healthy. It wasn't just the food that was running out: the medical supply they had managed to get from the infirmary on it's last strands as well.

"And what sould we do?" he asked.

Annabeth looked down. "We ration it. Even more. If we decrease the amount of food per person, it may last another two or three days".

"But...?".

"But," she continued, "with that amount of energy, we wouldn't be able to get to and from anywhere. We would just stay here and ... and wait".

"So, basically, our plan A?" Jason asked.

It was true. After seeing the horror with his own eyes, Percy was no longer so excited to be part of an epic apocalyptic story. They had planned to gather as many survivors as possible in the auditorium and wait until the rescue team arrived.

When it became clear that such a rescue would not happen anytime soon, Annabeth and Reyna took the reins.

"Basically. I just ... ” Annabeth closed her eyes, her forehead wrinkling and shining with sweat as she thought. "I don't know how to tell them that. We're already barely eating enough. Two boys from first year died trying to drag the drinking fountain on the second floor to here, and even so, we are almost all dehydrated. How can I tell them that things are going to get even _worse_?".

Percy took a deep breath, not knowing what to say. Annabeth looked so ... frustrated. And he understood. Because he had been there when the two boys had did. He understood what it was like to feel responsible for the suffering of others, and to be unable to do anything.

"You don't have to," Jason took a step forward, "I'm going to talk to Piper and Silena. They can give the word. You know they have a way with people".

"Jason, I ..." Annabeth was interrupted by a momentary cough before resuming her sentence: "I can't ask that of them. It is my responsibility".

"Annabeth" he put a hand on her shoulder "we are _all_ trying to survive here. And we are your friends".

Annabeth tried to protest, but Reyna interrupted her:

"I agree, actually. Piper will know what to say. And, if anyone disagrees, I'm sure Thalia can fix it" she broke into a small smile.

Percy and Annabeth laughed together, but the shortness of breath did not allow the laugh to last long. That, and another detail. Although Reyna had said it as a joke, and Percy did not think that the girl was going to take some impulsive action for the greater good, he feared, in his heart, that this deplorable situation would mess with someone's head. It was impossible to say when one of those teenagers would stand up and question their leadership. And if that happened, what would they do? He didn't like to think about what could happen when, inevitably, one of those Annabeth had worked so hard to protect, rebelled against her. He could only hope that it would happen only when they were all already far away from that school.

This was, however, a concern for later. Reyna gave Annabeth's arm a friendly squeeze and said to Jason:

"Come on, I'll go with you. And Annabeth, you should rest. Thalia and Luke are very concerned about you".

With that, they withdrew. As soon as the door was closed, Annabeth collapsed, leaning on the old soundboard. Percy hurried over to her side.

"Have you got any sleep lately?".

The question seemed random, but Percy heard the question behind it: _do the nightmares let you?_ The answer was simple: "No".

He looked at the girl. Annabeth did not look fragile or hurt, even when her voice sounded so brittle and exhausted. She used a hand - the one that was wrapped in a bandage, he noticed - to brush a strand of blond hair from her face and asked, without looking at him:

"Do you think we're going to survive?" 

Percy swallowed, feeling his throat rough. On impulse, he lifted a hand and picked up the one she still had resting on her forehead. Annabeth stiffened for a moment, surprised, but when he linked his languid fingers with her callused ones, the girl relaxed. With his thumb, he gently stroked the back of the girl's hand, feeling the scarred and battered cloth of the bandage under her skin.

"I would like to to believe so".

Percy thought that her smile, at that very moment, was reason enough to try.


	2. static

Percy opened his tired eyes when sunlight penetrated the room. He was leaning against the wall opposite the huge windows. The glass covered in a dark plastic material gave the light a matte appearance and provided very little illumination. Anyway, it didn't make much difference for him, who hadn't even been asleep.

Tiredness slowly turned into exhaustion, he realized. The entire length of his back was sore, and he was barely able to move his torso. His shoulders, overloaded, were now lowered at all times. The lack of sleep had begun to confuse his senses. It wouldn't be long before he became completely useless, awake or not.

He shook his head, pushing those thoughts away. When he tried to take a deep breath, however, he noticed that during the night he had probably gotten a cold. Grunting in frustration, he took a fist covered by the tattered sleeve of his blue sweatshirt and sniffed. Gradually, the others also started to wake up.

Almost immediately, while the room was filled with tired grumbling and ragged coughs, Rachel approached. Percy noted with regret that he had paid little attention to his best friend in the past two days, too busy with more urgent matters. But the redhead didn't look hurt by it. Instead, she slid her back against the wall until she was seated next to him, a smile barely noticeable on her thin, cracked lips.

The pale blue denim jeans that had once been flawless were covered in brown stains. Percy recognized that aspect: dried blood. The frayed burgundy tank and the white skin dotted with freckles now red and oily. It was strange to think of Rachel - always so colorful and cheerful - in that gray and red setting, but that was the reality now. In the early days, Rachel approached at sunrise with a half-full bottle of water or some tasteless cookie, but this time there was nothing.

There was nothing left for them.

"You couldn't sleep," she didn't ask.

"No" he didn't feel it was necessary to lie "I kept thinking...".

"Of Grover," she added, carefully.

His huge green eyes searched the friend's face for some discomfort or anger, but Percy just nodded, too tired to complete any thoughts. Rachel nodded, slowly. She understood.

Percy knew, deep down, that she more than understood.

Rachel blamed herself.

_On the first day, Percy had been with Grover and Rachel, skipping class on the lawn. Grover had bought a new cap, with a bluetooth device, and was showing them what they needed to do t listen to music in class without being caught, and Rachel, absently, doodled in her notebook. While Percy selected a song from his friend's playlist, Annabeth, accompanied by her two minions had appeared, carrying huge cardboard boxes._

_"Are you officially moving here, wise girl?" Percy had teased, raising an eyebrow. "I'm pretty sure that Mr. Brunner won't even notice the difference"._

_The girl, however, did not seem entertained that day. Which was strange, because she always had an answer on the tip of her tongue. Luke, who was little behind, rolled his eyes. Not even Thalia seemed to find the comment amusing._

_"As a matter of fact, no, I'm not" Annabeth replied, adjusting the box she was carrying in her arms a little better and already moving away "our clasmates are all in the classroom, helping with the scenario for the cultural fair, which, in case you have forgotten, is only two days away. But I cannot say that I am exactly surprised that you are here, and not helping us"._

_She kept walking, Luke and Thalia close behind, and Percy grimaced, mimicking the blonde's voice in a tone at least two octaves higher and thinner. Rachel and Grover laughed, while Percy removed his hat and ran a hand through his rumpled hair._

_"Even so," Grover commented, picking up the hat his friend held out, "we should help."_

_Percy sighed, but agreed. He held out a hand to Rachel, who held on to him to get up, while Grover picked up her crutches. Last summer, Rachel and her parents had been involved in a helicopter accident - which could have been a reason for laughs, for how absurd it souded, had the accident not culminated in a piece of metal pierced in the girl's back, which compromised her spine for the rest of her life._

_"Hey, nerds, wait a minute!" Percy called, walking a little faster to reach the trio that had already moved away._

_Annabeth stopped walking, looking annoyed. However, before she could open her mouth to complain, Percy took one of the boxes out of the pile she was carrying. She raised her eyebrows, as if she expected Percy to hit her with the box or do something just as stupid, but he just winked at her playfully and started walking beside her. Grover took one of Luke's boxes, too._

_It was strange - walking side by side with Annabeth with no mean comments coming out of any of their mouths. While Grover, Rachel and Thalia chatted behind him, Percy cleared his throat. He and Annabeth had never been close, but they had known each other since the first grade of elementary school. For a moment, he wondered why they never got along._

_He never found an answer to these questions. Not when his train of thought was cut off by a shrill, horrified cry from somewhere in the east._

Percy searched his mind for something to say. He wanted to assure Rachel that it was not her fault. That Grover would do what he did for anyone, that she couldn't blame herself for other people's attitudes. But his throat closed. He couldn't say anything, he couldn't force himself to even say his friend's name.

Every time he closed his eyes, a picture was painted in his mind: he and Thalia keeping the colossal doors of the auditorium open - which were normally opened by remote control -, angryly and desperately trying to keep an unconscious Annabeth behind them, who had a slash open at the temple, while Luke and Grover were still trying to climb the stairs. Behind them, a wave of death in the form of bloody teeth and opaque eyes followed them, the cacophony of painful grunts and groans turning Percy's head into a whirlwind.

Percy had waited, for hours on end, for Grover to appear, somehow. He stood in front of the closed doors, waiting. When he heard someone beating desperately, his heart was almost out of his mouth.

But when he and Luke opened them, it was Nico who stared at them outside - his eyes showing more emotions in that single moment than Percy had ever seen in his life - and Reyna, who was carrying with difficulty an unconscious Hazel.

Rachel's voice was just a fragile thread of remorse: "I'm so sorry".

The only thing Percy managed to answer was: "Me too".

Suddenly, there was no more silence. Everyone had woken up. Frank and Piper, the caretakers of the day, headed for the sound room in order to find out how much food would be distributed later, while Will and Luke went from person to person to check on the injured or sick. Percy could see the exhaustion on each of their faces. He wondered how long it would take to ...

With a furious shake of his head, Percy corrected himself mentally. He couldn't let himself think that way. So many of them had already given up hope. At least _someone_ needed to continue believing.

He gently squeezed one of Rachel's knees, let out a silent _"see you later"_ and stood up. He scanned the place quickly, looking for any emergencies or situations that would need to be resolved immediately, but the whole environment was submerged in a frightening clam. Percy noticed that everyone was looking around anxiously, expecting something, _anything_ , to happen.

More than just a few times during the past three days, Percy felt strangely ... isolated. It seemed that the rest of the world did not exist, just them, in that crowded rectangle, and death, who waited outside for their slightest movement. Their homes, their school, the park they skated on Saturdays and the subversive and questionably "alternative" store in an underground gallery to which Grover dragged them to buy his CDs of foreign folk music ... everything had burned, like a distant memory of a fleeting dream.

"Percy?".

It was Annabeth. She was halfway out of the sound room - where she had undoubtedly spent the entire night - and was waving him over. Confused but curious, Percy did as he was told. She opened the door for him to enter and closed the it behind her.

To his surprise, sitting cross-legged on the dusty ground, was Leo. Percy felt an involuntary smile form on his face. Leo was one of those guys that everyone knew, and yet he was not considered "popular". He had once made one of the paper-horse animals from their presentation about the Trojan war catch fire. It had been hilarious. And scary.

"Leo?".

"Hi, man," the boy replied, without looking at him. His face was dirty and his hands had been bruised from how much time he spent reinforcing the barricade. "I ..." he tried to lick his lips, in vain, since his mouth was also dry "I think I discovered a good thing".

Something in Percy's chest expanded. A sensation he didn't know he was feeling until then seemed to ease a little. Expectant, Percy bowed, until he was on his knees in front of Leo, and encouraged him to continue.

Leo took something out of his pocket. It looked like a rectangular box, but his fingers were moving so fast that Percy couldn't see straight.

"Piper stole it from her grandfather, about seven months ago. It is a portable radio. It was broken and I said I was going to fix it, but I ended up forgetting. I just found it last night, in the bottom of my backpack".

Percy didn't quite understand what he was getting at with that, but Annabeth also sat on the floor next to him, and Leo continued:

"It's a very old radio, type AM. Normally, it wouldn't do much. But ... sound waves of the AM type are more unstable, and also much easier to manipulate. I..." he took a deep breath once before continuing "I think I managed to connect this radio to a police station".

Percy took a moment to actually understand what Leo had said. And then, he jumped forward and wrapped the skinny boy in a bear hug. His heart was pounding in his chest, and he couldn't quite formulate what he was thinking. Beside him, he thought he heard Annabeth sigh in relief, but it was a little difficult to hear her above all the excitment he was feeling.

Jason and Reyna were called into the sound room then, confused looks on their faces. Jason was ecstatic when Leo told him, but Reyna remained silent. Percy wanted to ask if everything was okay, but he wasn't sure if he wanted to hear the answer.

Leo turned on the device. Before long, he had connected one of the microphones to the radio.

"I'm not sure how much battery we still have ... so ...".

A static sound filled the air, and everyone stopped breathing for a moment. Something that sounded like a distorted voice was heard, but it soon disappeared. The signal seemed weak, surfing between stations. Leo held out the microphone for someone to speak, and Annabeth took it.

'If anyone is listening, we are talking from Brooklyn, New York. We are about fifty survivors. We have little water and little food. We are looking for other survivors and a place to escape".

No one answered. The same static sound continued. Annabeth repeated the message two more times. And then, the device hung up.

"What?" Leo exclaimed, swinging the small radio. "No, no...".

Percy punched himself in the leg, frustrated. Jason dropped against the wall, and Reyna remained silent. Leo went on fiddling with the device, desperate. He was so nervous that Percy was no longer even sure if the other boy was actually paying attention to what he was doing.

Someone knocked hard on the door. Annabeth cursed, but opened it, coming face to face with one of the Stolls, his face covered with sweat and eyesshaking in their sockets.

"Travis ...?".

"It's Ethan," he murmured, his voice shaking. "Nobody ... nobody saw him leaving. But suddenly he came, knocking on the door and shouting...".

Percy felt all the blood in his body freeze. Jason and Reyna immediately stood up, alert. Leo, still oblivious to everything, let out a growl of frustration.

"Travis" she said, in a worried tone "what ...".

Annabeth was interrupted by a outragind cry from behind the other boy. Quickly, she pushed Travis aside and walked off towards the noise. Percy, Jason and Reyna followed.

Ethan was lying in the middle of the auditorium stage, Will sitting right next to his head, and Nico kneeling not far away. Neither of them looked very good, but Percy felt his stomach churn when he looked at the older one. To make it worse, Ethan's shirt had been torn in order to better expose the wound:

A huge, bloody, grimy bite. Percy led the way, and when he reached him, Ethan immediately took his arm. His hand was shaking and sweaty, a fragile grip, almost strengthless. His face, contorted in pain, dripped with sweat. His unfocused look said he didn't have much time left.

"Percy, Per..." he grunted "I ... I don't want to die".

Everything got mixed up in Percy's head. Ethan looked at him with the most frightened look in the world, as if asking for _mercy_. As if his life was in his hands. As if Percy _could_ save him.

But he couldn't.

Percy was not a god. There was nothing he could do for Ethan now. But was that how he thought? Was that how Ethan saw him? Was that what everyone else thought, as well? 

Percy wanted to scream. It was too much. He couldn't do anything. Thet expected him to, and, otherwise, that would make him _guilty_. 

Ethan was going to die, and it was his fault.

Something crackled behind him, but Percy paid no attention to it. Not until the static noise filled the entire auditorium and an imposing voice resonated:

_" This Sergeant La Rue, from the American army,speaking. All military police bases in the city are currently out of reach. I am sending this message to anyone who can hear me. I have a team, shelter and supplies. If you are hearing this message, respond"._

Leo left the sound room with a satisfied smile on his face. That immediately disappeared. The grip on Percy's arm loosened, Ethan's hand fell limp beside the boy's knee. In the morbid and absolute silence, the message began to repeat itself:

_"This is Sergeant La Rue, from the American army, speaking. All of the city's military police bases are currently out of reach...-"._

Very slowly, Ethan's eyelids would open. With veins jumping in their sockets, he groaned.

The message continued to resonate in Percy's head, all the while the end of the world closed a hand on his knee, and rose up, starving.

**Author's Note:**

> Until next time.


End file.
